Traktor Chelyabinsk

On Wednesday, second round hero Evgeny Kuznetsov, hosted his day with the Stanley Cup in Chelyabinsk. He visited the arena of his former Russian team, Traktor Chelyabinsk, to share the experience with fans and the Traktor Children’s Sports School.

But the kids from Traktor’s sports school weren’t the only baby faces at the arena for Kuzy’s Cup day. The Capitals posted a couple of photographs of someone very familiar to their social media.

Evgeny Kuznetsov announced on his Instagram account that during his day with the Stanley Cup, he’ll present the Cup in Chelyabinsk at Traktor’s youth program, and then again before the friendly “Governor’s Cup” between Traktor and Metallurg.

Washington Capitals center Evgeny Kuznetsov showed support to his hometown KHL team — Traktor Chelyabinsk — in a big way once again on Friday. The former KHL superstar bought shirts and posters for all 7,500 fans in attendance at the Traktor-Avangard game.

The shirts read in Russian Thanks, Chelyabinsk! When we are together, we cannot be defeated! It also included the message ALL IN! in English as well as his signature.

Early on Tuesday morning, Admiral, the eighth best team in the KHL’s Eastern Conference, defeated Amur 4-1. Admiral has now qualified for the KHL Playoffs. This also means that Evgeny Kuznetsov‘s Traktor Chelyabinsk, who was the Eastern Conference Champions last season, will miss the playoffs entirely for the first time since 2010-11.

In KHL action on Saturday, Admiral jumped into the East’s final playoff spot with a 3-1 home win over Metallurg Novokuznetsk. On Sunday, Traktor Chelyabinsk, who still had control of their own destiny with a game in hand, had a chance to leapfrog Admiral if the could beat Torpedo.

Now that Washington Capitals prospect Evgeny Kuznetsovhas made it clear he’s coming to DC, the only question left is when. If his KHL team, Traktor Chelyabinsk, makes the playoffs, his journey to North America will be delayed.

On Friday morning, the picture became more clear as Traktor Chelyabinsk defeated Vityaz Chekhov, 3-2, two days after falling to defending champion Dynamo 5-3. Kuznetsov continued some great play, recording a “secondary” assist on (former Capital) Jan Bulis‘ first period goal. He also recorded two shots on goal and lost all three of his face-offs in 20:55 of ice time — most among any Traktor forward.

Washington Capitals top prospect Evgeny Kuznetsov returned to action following KHL Olympic break on Wednesday as Traktor Chelyabinsk faced reigning champions Dynamo Moscow in a Gagarin Cup re-match. Traktor, still battling for a postseason spot, gave the champions a battle but fell 5-3 in a high scoring affair.

Despite being one of the best players on the ice, Kuznetsov was unable to snap his goalless streak, now at 12 games (his last goal came on November 28th). But at least he keeps racking up the assists.